


Moving At The Speed At Which Cars Rust

by yuletide_archivist



Category: seaQuest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-21
Updated: 2008-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:30:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1636556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a smart guy, Lucas said a lot of dumb things.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving At The Speed At Which Cars Rust

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta, als_wonderland. Any mistakes are mine, not hers.
> 
> Written for Amethyst Shard

 

 

Moving At The Speed At Which Cars Rust

*Earlier*

The first time Lucas met Tony, he thought Tony was an idiot. A giant, massive waste of stupid flesh put on the earth to make Lucas miserable and to steal the top bunk.

For a guy like Lucas, a certified genius who had earned multiple degrees before he was even 18, stupidity was hard to deal with. Especially when he had a hard time seeing his own.

But as Lucas got to know Tony, he realized that while Tony wasn't book smart, he WAS smart. He knew people. He knew kids, he knew how to TAKE CARE of people and kids, something that Lucas had never been able to grasp. Tony knew human nature, knew how people would react to things and could use that to his advantage or he could use it to help. It depended on the situation or the person, but Lucas had watched Tony do things and make choices that would never have occurred to Lucas in a million years. 

Lucas knew, because he had met his own father, that the Wolenczaks were not the easiest people to get along with. He had a bad temper, a decided lack of a filter on his mouth and the inability to say the right thing at the right time, which made him a bit like a ticking bomb, just waiting to go off on some unsuspecting innocent person. 

It was fun to be the bratty, smart mouthed kid that could out hack and out engineer any professor on campus and Lucas rolled with it. He added bad habit onto bad attitude and built a reputation that was still attached to his name. A reputation that he was no longer proud of and was, in fact, embarrassed by.

For a smart guy, Lucas said a lot of dumb things. 

Which was how he had gotten himself in trouble. With Tony. And possibly ruined things forever.

*Later*

He lurked in the hallway, waiting for Tony to come back from his shift. Only, Tony didn't come straight back to their bunk. No, he took a long swim with Darwin, then showered, THEN came back.

Lucas felt like a stalker - which he figured he actually was - but it was weird to be stalking his own room. He walked a few laps around the corridors while he waited, keeping clear of the main walkway but close enough to his door to know when Tony finally made it home.

Which he eventually did, shirt sticking to still damp skin. Tony keyed the entry code to their bunk and walked in, leaving the lights off. Lucas watched him rub a towel over his head as he took the stairs down into their bunk. Sure footed and spry, Tony took them without looking, despite no lights, and didn't trip once. 

Lucas didn't turn the lights on either, following him into their bunk. He closed the hatch behind him and pressed the override code onto the keypad, sealing them in. With a deep breath, he made his own way down the stairs. 

*Earlier*

Henderson liked to clean things the way her father cleaned them. On tables spread with newspapers or drop cloths, getting hands dirty but sitting down, preferably with a cold drink at her side. Despite the various bays that were assigned for repair work, Loni was a fan of the mess hall. Better tables, better seats and, most importantly, better cold drinks.

She had pulled a series of motors and engines from a number of places around the seaQuest, things she felt were minor but could use a bit of TLC. And, of course, she couldn't work alone. No, she had to wake up Lucas at an ungodly hour and drag him with her. She told him it was his steady hands and ability to get to those hard to reach places but Lucas has his doubts. 

Cup of coffee at his side, modified toothbrush turned cleaning device in his hand, Lucas squinted at the innards of the motor he was working on and frowned. It was a mess, just as Loni had predicted and he wanted to strangle whoever had been or maintenance duty and had utterly failed to get this done right the first time.

"I don't know why you had to do this now." He was grumbly and a bit out of sorts but Loni, always of the sunny disposition, had chosen to ignore him and his grumpiness. She had merely provided him with hot coffee- one cream, three sugars- and put him to work.

"We're out in the middle of nowhere, on the way to somewhere more populated but not by much. This is the hard part of the tour and we need to focus and keep busy." She had a light touch when she worked, long fingers and agile hands making a job that could be drawn out go much, much faster. Lucas knew that there were crew members that would make things take as much time as possible to try to avoid going to the next job and the next and the next. Loni was not one of them. 

"Well, I can tell you that there are a lot more things I'd like to focus on." He scrubbed a small area with his brush, the grease and dirt finally starting to come up. His fingers felt gross and slimy, the various lubricants and cleansers mixing together to create what Lucas was referring to as Giant Mess number 2012. It coated the handle of his coffee mug and spread across the drop cloth on his side of the table. 

"Yeah, that's what I heard." Loni laughed gently from across the table and Lucas' head popped up.

"What do you mean?" He had been burned by the rumor mill before. Lies about crushed on female staff (true), about him sleeping with a blanket (false), about what had happened when he had visited that hacker outpost (a little bit of both). It had taken weeks to restore what little respect he had started to earn for himself and now there was something else running through the giant cesspool of lies and half truths? Shit.

"Oh, come on Lucas. If I know, then you have to know." 

"Well, I don't so just tell me." Rude, that's what he was bit he didn't care. The smile started to slip from her face, eyes suddenly concerned.

"That, you know, you and Tony-" She stopped, making motions with her hands that he had no clue what they meant. It could be either a Loni thing or a military thing but no matter whose thing it was, he was done with it.

"Me and Tony what?" Brittle and cold, he set down his work and started her right in the eye.

"Are, you know, interested in each other. You know, dating. And stuff." Loni seemed embarrassed now, a pink flush rising on her cheeks and down her neck. She really had thought he knew, Lucas realized, as she grew more and more visibly uncomfortable. Lucas, suddenly embarrassed himself, let his mouth take over for his brain, let his lips part and words come out without any sort of filter.

"That idiot?" Loni froze at that and Lucas thought, at first, that it was just because he was being mean and she didn't like it. But as the pink turned to a pale white on her face as the blood drained rapidly, he realized that there had to be more to it than that. She was looking at something behind him, up and above his shoulder. Closing his own eyes for a brief second, he opened them again and turned to look.

At Tony. Who was standing behind him.

Shit.

*Later*

Tony stopped drying his hair at the sound of Lucas' feet on the walkway but he didn't say anything. No, he paused for a second, letting Lucas get to the floor, then dropped the towel and grabbed for Lucas' shirt all in one motion.

Tony was not a tall man. A little shorter than Lucas, who was average if anything. Meaning that when Tony pulled their faces together, eye to eye, nose to nose, Lucas was not bending over nor on his toes. It was almost perfect.

Where had that come from? It was odd, the things that had been running through his head , thoughts Lucas didn't know what to do with. Images of Tony, of Lucas and Tony, of hands and lips and bodies coming together. He didn't know what to do with those thoughts, things he had never considered and certainly never done in real life. And yet, as he thought them, he wondered what if? Would would happen if he did? The warm feeling in his chest made him think that maybe, maybe this was something worth pursuing.

Tony was breathing harder than he should be, every exhale mixing with Lucas', the air warm and damp between them.

"What the hell are you doing, Luke?" 

"You won't talk to me." Lucas could play the part of petulant teenager as well as anybody, knowing that it could get him his way. He had used that attitude to manipulate lots of people over the years but now, here with Tony, all he wanted to do was use it to point out the obvious- the truth- for no reason other than finding out how to fix what he had so clearly broken.

"Damn right."

"Except for right now."

"Because I'm about to beat your face in." Tony said the words but the bite behind them was lacking. He was tense, yes, his muscles flexing under his clothes, teeth grinding together. Tony was angry and Lucas could tell but Tony wasn't violent, not yet. 

"Before you do," Lucas put his hands up in protest. "I thought we could figure this thing out, between us, you know? I know that I'm not real thrilled at how things have been and-"

Tony slapped a hand over Lucas' mouth and glared. Tony smelled clean, like salt and soap and Lucas was sure that Tony had actually used his allotment of water in the showers, not that sonic crap that didn't feel like much of anything. Lucas breathed in, trying to pull in as much oxygen as he could around Tony's fingers, that were blocking his mouth and his nose, and let his eyes slip shut. This was not going the way he had planned.

"I'm not talking to you because you think I'm an idiot. I have enough people in my life, including my parents, that think the same thing. I don't need it from you. I'd rather pretend you didn't exist or something because, you know, it makes it easier not to hate you." His voice had dropped low and growly and Lucas wondered what he had been like when Tony was Lucas' age. Taking care of his sister's kid, trouble finding him at every turn. Lucas had a picture suddenly, of Tony in dark jeans and a tight white t-shirt, all James Dean but without all the whiney emo crap. Sex on legs. 

And then he knew, that seductive image still fresh against the back of his eyelids, that whatever he had with Tony was not the platonic friendship that he enjoyed with other crewmembers on SeaQuest. Oh no, this was something much, much different.

Lucas flicked his tongue out, tasting Tony's skin, the damp crease joining finger to palm. Tony's breath hitched, a sharp intake the only signal that Lucas had actually done it.

And then Tony was pushing them both backwards, Lucas trying desperately trying to not trip over his own feet. Lucas's back hit the wall, the force of the impact knocking the wind from him, his eyes snapping open. Tony's eyes directly in front of him, making contact, flicking around like he was looking for something. Looking for the truth.

"I don't know why you picked me to mess with but you need to cut it out. I can't-" Tony stopped himself, slapping his free hand against the bulkhead. "Damn it, Luke, I can't DO this!"

Lucas reached up with a hand that he finally realized was free and grabbed at Tony's arm, pulling. Tony, eyes wide, dropped his hand.

Lucas was a talker, had been for much of his life, even though he had never been around many listeners. He'd toned it down some since boarding the seaQuest, and now that he hung around Tony, he had even less reason or even opportunity to talk. So he said nothing, just raised his hands to Tony's face, and pulled.

*Earlier*

Tony, carrying two plates of breakfast food, had heard everything that Lucas had just said. He hadn't said a whole lot, that was true, but it was enough. Lucas knew that Tony had issues, that he was embarrassed sometimes about his lack of education, about how slow he read and how little math and engineering he actually understood on the first go round.

So Lucas, knowing all of that, should have known better. And, obviously, he hadn't. Tony had heard him. And now Tony looked at him as if Lucas had just shot Darwin or something.

"Uh, Tony, hey, I didn't-" See you there, know you were there, THINK about what was coming out of my mouth. All things that Lucas could have said but didn't. Because Tony smashed one of the plates of eggs and bacon into Lucas' face, smearing everything with one twist of his wrist and then he was gone. It was, Lucas discovered, incredibly hard to say you were sorry when you mouth was full of runny egg product and fake pork.

By the time Loni had stopped laughing and had found a few rags to help him wipe the eggs from his eyes, Tony had made his way out of the mess hall entirely. The second plate of breakfast lay congealing face down on the tile, the first plate on top of the motor Lucas had been cleaning, food now stuck to the grease and dirt that he had been scrubbing at before. 

"That could have gone better." Loni tried for a smile, eyes bright, but her heart wasn't in it. 

"Thanks, you know, for pointing out the obvious." Lucas leaned back against the table, facing the door. A part of him hoped that Tony would turn around, come back to yell at him, a situation that was a daily event in their bunk. But as the egg dried into a tight, crusty mess on his cheek and the bacon hardened to rock-like status, Lucas knew he wasn't coming back.

*Later*

Their lips met in the middle, more of a collision than anything else, but it was warm flesh on warm flesh. Lucas had to stop for just a second, just to get his bearings. He'd done this before, the kissing thing. He'd even had sex. But that had been with a GIRL and Tony was really, really not a girl. And Lucas really, really liked it.

He liked the energy behind Tony, behind his body and his lips. There was a sense of power and urgency that refused to be contained, free in a way that Lucas had never experienced before. 

Lucas' hands gripped Tony's face, not wanting him to slip away until Lucas had made his point. He was certain that he was seriously going to get his ass kicked for this. Lucas opened his lips, tongue flicking out to taste Tony. 

Tony pulled back a bit at this, but Lucas held firm, not wanting to get to the part where he got punched in the face quite yet. He rather liked the bit where he was kissing Tony. Apparently Tony decided he liked it too because he stopped pulling away, stopped tensing the muscles in his neck, and opened his own mouth, letting Lucas in. Tony ran one hand up Lucas' side, raising the fabric of Lucas' shirt and sliding his hand underneath. Lucas jumped a bit, then leaned in to Tony's hand, loving the warmth.

Tony, always the multitasker, began kissing Lucas in earnest, tongue pushing back with more force, playfully flicking out, connecting with teeth and lips and tongue. Stealing air between connecting kisses, Lucas felt light headed. He honestly had not planned for this to happen but he wasn't arguing.

Both of Tony's hands had found their way under Lucas' shirt now, roaming his thin frame, smoothing across his skin. His fingers left trails of fire, at least that was how it felt, warmth spreading over Lucas, spreading across his shoulders, down his torso and straight to his cock. 

Lucas couldn't breathe. He couldn't pull breath in, the small breaks between kisses no longer enough to give him the oxygen he needed to stay conscious. But as he pushed Tony's face away from his, he could tell that maybe he hadn't made quite the right move. Tony's hands had dropped from Lucas' skin, leaving Lucas cold when he had been so, so warm. 

"What?" Lucas couldn't read body language for shit. He could admit it and he was doing so now- he had now idea what Tony wanted or needed. They had been kissing, they had been touching and suddenly they weren't. And Tony, well, he wasn't making it easy to know what he felt about that.

"What do you mean, what?" Tony's voice was little more than a croak, as if he'd rusted and tarnished in the past few minutes alone. Lucas wondered if he sounded the same way.

"Why'd you, you know, stop?" 

"Why'd I-? Look, kid, I don't know what you think you're doing but you're the one who-"

Lucas grabbed Tony's shirt and pulled him back, their combined weight slamming him back against the bulkhead but not caring. This time when they connected, mouth to mouth, Lucas was aiming. Lips and tongue, hands and body, he was using what he had and what he knew had worked just a few minutes ago and was running with it.

Only Tony, who Lucas could feel was just as hard as he was- those pants didn't leave anything to the imagination- braced his hands on the wall and pushed back.

"I will not be your experiment." Eyes hard in a face drawn and pinched, Lucas had to take a minute to understand that those things meant Tony was serious. He had "serious face." It took everything in him not to laugh at that, knowing that it would not be taken well. Tony was angry and from the look in his eyes, hurt.

Lucas grabbed Tony's hand and pulled it towards him, covering his own cock with Tony's hand. He arched into the touch, cock hard and straining.

"I don't need to experiment. I know the answer."

"You didn't this morning."

"This morning has nothing to do with this. Well, it does but now how you think."

"Luke, man-"

"You caught me on the defensive. Sneak attack. My mouth took over and stupidity came out. I didn't mean it, I was just surprised."

"Surprised? About what?"

"People think you like me. They think I like you back. I hadn't thought about it, not that way."

"And Loni brought it up, threw it at you and you freaked." Sarcasm was Tony's default setting and Lucas grimaced when he heard the scorn dripping from Tony's lips. Not good.

"Yeah." Lucas thrust up with his hips, connected with Tony's hand and shivered at the touch, wanting more, wanting to beg for more but terrified that he would be denied.

"So what do you think now?" Tony held firm, not moving, even with Lucas practically writing underneath him. 

"I want you. I've wanted you... for a long time. I just didn't realize that's what this was." Finally, the truth. Lucas had always thought of his brain as a processor, like the computers that he loved. He would enter a problem into the computer and let his brain run, trusting his mind to find the right answer. And the truth his big, genius brain was delivering was that he had felt very strongly for Tony for a very long time. So strongly, in fact, that most would call it love. And he had missed it. Until now. 

And the revelation, made while being held up against a wall, cock practically in Tony's hand, was a relief, more than anything else. Lucas felt that relief as a physical thing, as if he had been fighting that answer all along and now that the calculations were finished and a definite answer had been reached, he could stop fighting and just go with it. Like a weight off his shoulders.

"This, huh?" Tony cupped him through his jeans and Lucas hissed, eyes snapping shut.

"Yeah," Lucas ground out, trying to keep himself from thrusting forward anymore, knowing that if he had too much more attention to his nether regions, he was going to go off like a rocket.

"And what's this, Lucas? Slumming it with the white trash goombah? The idiot?"

"No. No, this is... me wanting you. Just you."

"What does that mean?" Tony squeezed gently, the fabric both hindering the intensity of the touch and making it a million times worse.

"What do you think it means? Oh, god!" He was close, so close. His hands gripped Tony's upper arms, clenching tighter with every flex of Tony's hand. Lucas wondered if he'd leave bruises and groaned at the thought.

"Say it, Luke. I need you to say it."

"I think I love you."

Lucas didn't let go of his grip on Tony's arms but leaned forward, connecting them again, lip to lip. Lucas kissed with a fierceness that he had never really thought applied to kissing. He had always thought about girls, about gentle kisses, sweet and tender, nothing like the pressure and force behind what they were doing now. Tony's lips were soft but his mouth had a certain hardness behind it, something that told Lucas that he could push and pull and use force and leverage but he wasn't going to hurt Tony. He was sturdy.

He had flashes, suddenly, of Tony wearing his mark, bites and bruises across Tony's shoulders and down his sides, love bits on his neck that he'd have to hide or explain and that could take some doing. Lucas wanted to watch him try, watch Tony squirm as he remembered just how he came to have those marks but not being able to articulate those facts to anyone else. 

That made Lucas groan again, thrusting against Tony's hand, rubbing his cock against the inside of his jeans. The spark of arousal made him jerk, which brought their face closer together, cheek to cheek for a second. Lucas righted their faces and attacked Tony's lips, teeth nipping out, biting gently at the already flushed skin.

This time, Tony groaned in to Lucas' mouth, hands flexing against Lucas'.

"I think, " Tony ground out, "I love you, too."

Lucas came like that, the words stronger than any touch or any kiss. White exploded behind his eyelids and he sank back against the wall, legs no longer able to hold him up.

Tony did that, instead.

"Woah, hey, Luke. Didn't mean to rock your world so hard." Tony was grinning, a real, full on smile that made his eyes light up.

"Yeah, you did, you jerk." Lucas' felt the wet of come slide down his leg, jeans too baggy to catch anything really. His boxers were wet too. He wanted to take them off, wanted Tony to take them off. Wanted Tony naked.

"So I'm a jerk now, huh? Not an idiot? Or am I both?" Tony was teasing now, gentle in words where he hadn't been before. He patted Lucas' cheek gently, palm hot and damp. It was sweet, in a gross, manly way.

"You're a jerk and an idiot if you don't get me over to that bunk." Lucas tried to make a serious face but couldn't muster the energy.

"Oh yeah?" Tony laughed a bit. He reached for Lucas' pants, undoing the snap one handed, sliding the zipper down in one smooth stroke.

"My turn," Lucas took a deep breath, his lungs still catching up to the rest of him in post-coital-ville, "To rock your world." Lucas tried to take a step forward, to make his way to the bunk where he knew he had some lotion and boy, would that help when he finally got a hold of Tony's cock but Tony stopped him, eye wide and serious.

"Did you mean it? What you said?" Lucas waited, made himself stop and think about what he had been asked. What he said? The 'L' word was hanging out there. Love. He loved Tony. At least that was what he had said. Did he mean it?

"Yeah, you idiot. I meant it." And he did.

 


End file.
